5 days in Benares - The City of Lights
Mark Twain called Benares 'older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together'. Called Kashi in the Vedas and more recently Varanasi, Benares is one of the oldest cities in the world. The temple, and the king's honorofic have Kashi in their name ( Ka shi Vishwanath Temple, Kashi Naresh ); the university, the saree, and the paan have Banaras in it ( Benares Hindu University, Banarasi sarees, Banarasi paan ). Have not come across anything with Varanasi in it except the airport and the train station. Personally I prefer Benares; that was what I was calling it while planning my travel, while there and upon my return when talking about my trip. I was in Benares for 5 days in the December of 2021 when there was a cold wave. It was a solo trip. I limited my interactions with the locals and other travelers. My first trip to Benares was 8 years back in the November of 2013 for a friend's wedding but I had not ex